SF Hostel Pilots Hi-Tech Showerhead to Conserve Water

Estimated savings of 56,000 gallons per year

San Francisco, CA, November 6, 2018: Today the HI San Francisco City Center hostel will be the first accommodation provider in the country to begin use of Hydrao SmartShower showerheads as a means to reduce water consumption. Using LED color cues, the showerhead changes color based on shower length and gallons consumed. By programming these lights to signal when it’s time to wrap up and get out, HI San Francisco City Center has a goal of shaving 30 seconds off the average guest’s shower time. This savings is estimated to equal 56,000 gallons per year, the equivalent of over 1,000 bathtubs.

HI San Francisco City Center is the first hostel to receive showerheads as part of Hostelling International USA’s (HI USA) initiative to install 750 showerheads nationwide across more than 30 hostels. Backed by a quarter million dollar grant awarded by Booking.com’s Booking Cares Fund earlier this year to support innovative non-profit projects in sustainable tourism, the remaining hostels will be up and running by mid-2019. Once installed, the HI USA collection is expected to save 1 million gallons of water per year.

Using state-of-the-art technology, Hydrao showerheads use the flow of water to power the lights and an app provides shower-by-shower data to track water usage. With a wand-style showerhead on the market for over 4 years, Hydrao created a new wall mount model specifically for HI USA’s unprecedented initiative.

As the first hostel to receive showerheads, HI San Francisco City Center plays a critical role in generating benchmarking data and paving the way for the rest of the portfolio. HI Santa Monica will receive its showerheads on November 6 and will also be part of this pilot. The data from the pilot is being used for a case study commissioned by George Washington University, which will be made available to the accommodation industry.

 “We’re excited for Hostelling International USA to kick off this innovative initiative in San Francisco and are looking forward to seeing the measurable impact and immediate benefits it can offer to the local community,” says Marianne Gybels, who leads CSR globally for Booking.com. “What really impressed us about this project is its universal scalability and its potential to create a long-lasting behavioral change beyond just one trip, inspiring travelers to adjust their daily routine at home as well.”

Russ Hedge, HI USA CEO, also comments, “As a nonprofit with a longstanding commitment to sustainability, HI USA is grateful to have the resources to put forth an experiential sustainability initiative of this magnitude. This will change the way our guests shower, raising awareness to the reality of water scarcity that exists worldwide and creating a tangible way for each individual to make a difference.”

Milestones and data will be shared on World Water Day, March 22, 2019, which also serves as the kick off to HI USA’s Million Gallon Challenge, the official campaign to track water savings all the way to one million gallons.